PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — The Trinidad Express has made claims that criminal elements in Trinidad say they have in their possession, compromising videos and photographs of Chief Justice Ivor Archie, in addition to “sensitive WhatsApp and other communications involving the CJ.”

The Express claims to have had knowledge of the situation since October 2016 and made follow up investigations into the matter.

In a story last year, The Exprerss ran a story story about a convicted felon, Dillian Johnson, who was among a number of people granted Housing Development Corporation (HDC) units after Archie personally intervened with a senior HDC official to fast-track the applications.. The chief justice later admitted that he had forwarded the names of people to the HDC for housing allocation.

Following a botched assassination attempt, Johnson who claimed to have had a homosexual relationship with Archie, later fled to London, where he was said to be seeking political asylum.

His story has been shared with news outlets in the United Kingdom about his ordeal and involvement with Archie.

The various allegations swirling around Archie prompted the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) to set up a special committee to investigate his conduct, something that he then sued to prevent but lost on final appeal to the Privy Council, which ruled that, under section 3 of the Legal Profession Act (LPA) 1986, which created the LATT, there is nothing that would “prohibit” the LATT or members of the legal fraternity from causing there to be an enquiry into the fitness of a member of the judiciary.

However, the Privy Council cautioned that neither the LATT nor a member of the legal fraternity has the power to hold a member of the judiciary to any findings from that investigation as the LPA does not grant it that authority.

The sitting People’s National Movement (PNM) government, specifically attorney general, Farris Al-Rawi, when pressed about the series of serious allegations and events regarding Archie, has said that he is not “ignoring” the issue.

In December last year, Al-Rawi said that there was “no trigger” yet that would cause the PNM administration to invoke Article 137 against Archie, which would involve an investigation by the Integrity Commission and, if appropriate, advising the president to remove him pursuant to the constitution.

The still ongoing controversy regarding Archie’s conduct goes back to accusations made September 2010 in the Trinidad and Tobago parliament by former justice minister in the United National Congress (UNC) administration and former Supreme Court justice, Herbert Volney.

Volney said that he had come across evidence that pointed to Archie being significantly compromised and that a massive housing scheme involving Archie would be a telling factor that illustrated the level of his compromise.

Archie categorically denied the claims made by Volney, who was later fired from his cabinet position by UNC leader and then prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, for unrelated reasons in September 2012.

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